Minority urban residents are especially vulnerable to the social and psychological ills traditionally associated with city life, because the power structure is for them not only distant, but alien. Their traditional buffer, the neighborhood society, has recently acquired a new political dimension in many cities. The proposed research examines efforts by urban minority groups to have influence in local government proportionate to their numbers, as recently evidenced in changes to district representation on local legislative bodies, specifically, city councils. We will analyze linkages between: (1)levels of minority participation, (2) structure of participation (as through neighborhood organizations) (3) leadership recruitment patterns, (4) local government responsiveness, and (5) feelings of political efficacy and service satisfaction. We propose simultaneous observations of the process of change to district representation as it occurs or has occured in a sample of 9 cities, five of which will be studied intensively. The sample will include both cities that have moved toward districts as a result of referendum and those that have changed because of Justice Department pressure or court order. Data will be gathered on: (1) referenda and election voting and vote turnout; (2) backgrounds of candidates and eventual incumbents; (3) council agendas and proceedings; (4) policy outcomes; and (5) citizen attitudes toward local government and their perceptions of change in its performance. Research will be conducted according to an intensive comparative case-study approach, with individual team members assigned to target cities about which they have extensive background knowledge, but operating according to highly structured guidelines to insure uniformity of data. Each member will be responsible for gathering voting data, supervising surveys, content analysis of proceedings, and interviewing of leaders in the target cities assigned to him/her. The resulting report, however, will be integrated topically rather than by case study.